Ran into a somewhat common problem of adding a possessive to a multi-word subject with the following line:
... so those returning's spouses can see them.
Researching it, I discovered there are a whole set of rules about possessives I was never actually aware of, such as:
• when two people both possess the same thing (ex: Bob and Linda's car), you only add the possessive to the final person listed.
• when two people both own separate versions of the same thing (ex: Bob's and Linda's cars), you add the possessive to each of their names.
• the possessive is always added to the subject. If the subject is the last word of a multi-word phrase, then there's no problem, but (as in my initial case) it doesn't end with a suffix, then you need to change it using "of" (ex: "so the spouses of those returning can see them.")
And don't even ask about what happens when a plural phrase (i.e. "yous guys") needs a plural! (short answer: "yous guys" is an irregular construction, so all bets are off).
P.S. I went with:
... so spouses can see those returning.
